9am Briefing: Woman killed in road collision

A PEDESTRIAN has been killed after a collision with a car.

The incident happened last night on the A90 near to the Cramond Brig pub.

The road was closed southbound for several hours. Police said the victim was a 36-year-old woman.

The Scottish Ambulance Service said it had been called at around 7.42pm.

* TWO people suffered burns and five dogs have died in a fire in East Lothian.

The fire brigade received the call just after midnight to attend the blaze at a scrap dealer yard in East Fortune.

A caravan within the Paxton Metals site was completely destroyed during the fire, while the border terrier dogs failed to escape.

The victims, a man and a woman both aged 47, were taken to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for treatment to the burns they received on their hands.

* JOE McElderry fans have been left disappointed after the singer cancelled his Edinburgh gig so he could perform for the Queen.

The X Factor star said he had been asked to perform for Her Majesty The Queen at the annual Festival of Remembrance at The Royal Albert Hall on November 12, and had made the difficult decision of cancelling his show at the Festival Theatre.

He was unable to arrange another date in the Capital for the Scottish leg of his tour.

* PLANS to cut air passenger duty in Northern Ireland could cost Scotland’s tourism industry millions of pounds, the managing director of Edinburgh Airport warned today.

Jim O’Sullivan said the UK Government’s decision to reduce the tax on long-haul passengers departing from Belfast from next month will leave passengers flying to and from Scottish airports paying several times as much.

He said: “Scotland cannot afford to put any barriers to its links with the outside world. These barriers will not only stifle our competitiveness and ability to drive out economy from recession, but will also discourage visitors from coming to us.”

* LABOUR’S Malcolm Chisholm has broken ranks and called on the party to back a much bolder increase in the powers of the Scottish Parliament, going well beyond the proposals in the current Scotland Bill.

The Edinburgh North & Leith MSP said the Calman commission, whose recommendations formed the basis of the Bill, had failed to tackle Holyrood’s lack of financial powers.

And he claimed some Labour supporters would opt for independence if the Calman package was the only alternative on offer.